In a Seattle courtroom, a judge dismissed criminal trespass charges against three people who helped shut down I-5 for hours on January 6, 2024. Her ruling was made on specious legal grounds and reflects leftist judicial activism writ large.

The facts aren’t complicated. On January 6, 2024, a huge number of pro-Hamas protesters blocked I-5 in Seattle. Clearly acting on the orders of local elected officials, the state troopers did nothing to clear this conduct, which is illegal on its face as well as being an act of domestic terrorism. Instead, they just waited it out.

After the fact, law enforcement officers combed through social media posts about the event to identify participants. Eventually, they filed criminal trespass and disorderly conduct charges against six of the participants. Nevertheless, attorneys for the I-5 Six argued at the defendants’ arraignment (the formal charging proceeding) that using social media was an improper form of suspect identification for three of the six named defendants.

This is nonsense. If the photos from an event in a public place show that these defendants were among engaged in illegal acts, that’s sufficient for the charges against them. Judge Andrea Jarmon, however, accepted the defense argument and dismissed the criminal trespass charges. (The prosecution has not dropped the charges.)

Let’s talk about Judge Jarmon, the living embodiment of a leftist judge:

This is Judge Andrea Jarmon in Seattle.

She just dismissed ALL criminal trespass charges against half of the pro-Palestine activists who blocked the I-5 for 4 hours.

Jarmon sided with the defense attorneys, suggesting it was wrong of state patrol to recognize the suspects from… pic.twitter.com/ozfOmdANom

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 2, 2024

Let me emphasize that Jarmon’s Muslim faith is only part of the whole leftist intersectional package that sees her view the law as a tool for her values, values apparent in her LinkedIn blog, where she offers a series of “Hijabi Speaks From The Bench” insights.

The posts reveal a few things: Most obviously, despite a dual major from the University of Washington that includes English Language and Literature (the other is Women’s Studies), as well as a UW law degree, Jarmon is barely literate: “For example, the question could be posed as how does my experiences as a former victim of violence impact my judicial philosophy or as a former homeless youth.” Or take this: “I have to wonder of what those words were such...”

Jarmon is also all-in on intersectionality and victimization, describing herself this way:

I am Muslim. I am African American. I am a cisgender female. I am a single parent. I am a divorcee. I was raised by a Catholic white woman. I have 7 children and I have embraced my Roe v. Wade rights without shame. I am a proud ally of the LGBTQ community. I speak with a speech impediment. I am a former homeless youth and a survivor of child abuse and domestic violence. I was sheltered from the streets by United Indians' Labateyah. Every day, at least one of these identities or associations are under attack.

In a loving remembrance of the woman who was Jarmon’s mentor, Jarmon boasts that, once on the bench, she blocked “archaic language” and was “issuing rulings that appropriately address the harm of obvious racial bias and violence...” She adds that her deceased mentor “would get a hearty laughter [sic] at the thought of my infraction dispositions being considered so ‘unusual’ that some of my colleagues are unable to hear the reviews.” Wow!

Jarmon includes a link to a telling video showing her swearing-in ceremony, which was all female except for the imam. The Koran and the Constitution are diametrically opposed, matter and anti-matter. You cannot swear to support both simultaneously.

Like all good leftists, Jarmon is deeply invested in so-called “restorative justice.”  Like many leftist terms, the “justice” in the phrase “restorative justice” has nothing to do with being just. Instead, it’s permission for a leftist judge to ignore facts and law and, instead, to go with her gut. The reality is that “restorative justice” simply gives a pass to bad activity that melds with leftist shibboleths. It is anything but “just.”

On the internet, people are taken aback by Judge Jarmon’s appearance because it implies that her moral compass leans Koranic. That’s just one part of the whole, though. She is, in fact, a semi-literate leftist, all of whose values lead her away from the Constitution and the rule of law. Trump is absolutely right that the American judiciary needs reform and it could start with people like Judge Jarmon.  

Image: X screen grab.